Promedia 2.1 extremely low volume

[Zortrium]

A weeks or so ago my Promedia 2.1s started exhibiting an annoying buzz while playing -- no buzz while sitting idle, but the buzz was very noticeable when anything was playing. Closer listening revealed that it was only the left satellite that was buzzing (both were playing the sound, but just that one was adding the buzz). I swapped the left and right satellite wires and the buzz switched from the left to the right speaker, so this made it seem like a wiring issue and I ordered replacement wires. The buzz was extremely annoying, so while I waited for the new wires I didn't use the speakers at all

Today I thought I'd give them another shot since I was tired of using headphones all the time (still waiting on the new wires). Unfortunately, now they're exhibiting a totally different problem -- almost inaudible sound. When I power them on, everything seems fine (slight pop from the sub like it's always done, control pod LED comes on), but there's almost no sound coming out. If I increase my volume to 70 or 80% (far higher than I've ever run them at), I can hear the sound coming from them, so I know the signal is getting there, but it's still incredibly faint. The same behavior is present if I run my headphones through the jack on my satellite -- inaudible at reasonable volumes and barely audible at high volumes (I ran this test without any satellite wires at all). I rewired everything and confirmed the same behavior. External sub fuse and DIN plug look fine (no bent pins, etc). I tried plugging the speakers into a second sound source and had the same issue. I'm not sure what to troubleshoot now -- any ideas?

[Ironsave]

How old are your speakers? (Are they still under warranty?)

Is it possible your sound card plug is loose? (the green one).

On a related thought.... is your sound card seated properly?

Also, is the sound on your computer enabled?

If none of these suggestions help, it sounds like you may have a defective amp.......

(It is hard to say without being there.....)

Good Luck.....

[Zortrium]

Speakers are only a year and a half old. Definitely not a hardware
issue on my computer, my machine is brand new. I disconnected everything from the sub and tried powering it on -- after a second of powering it on, I heard a small click from it, but didn't hear the pop that I think is typical when powering the system on. Same thing for a few consecutive power cycles. I then rewired everything and tried playing some music through it again (I DID get the usual pops when I powered it on with everything plugged in). I basically got a much worse version of my original problem -- one of the two satellites was quiet and crackly, while the other was much quieter and much more crackly (as opposed to a week ago, where one of them was totally fine and the other was mostly fine but somewhat crackly). When I turned the volume up enough the second satellite emitted pops.

[Zortrium]

Just made a call to Klipsch and the guy I talked to thought that it's probably a problem with the control pod rather than the amp because when I plug in headphones I still get the minimal volume problem. I guess that makes sense, since a messed up amp shouldn't impact the sound when listening through headphones. So I guess I'll just buy a new control pod, hook that up and hope for the best.

[Ironsave]

Yeah,

The control pods are not that much $, but it kinda sucks that they can go bad.

Have you tried wiggling your DIN cable? (you might be able to verify that is in fact the issue by doing so).......

Good luck.....

[Zortrium]

Well, I can't say that I tried wiggling it, but I rewired everything several times, and the DIN connection seems snug and secure, so I'm pretty sure that's not the issue. My new control pod is en route now, so I'll have a new DIN cable regardless.

[Zortrium]

Now I'm pretty pissed -- my replacement control pod didn't fix any of the problems. When I called Klipsch, they insisted that since I hadn't bought the control pod from them directly (it was a brand new one from Mr. Clean), it must be that I'd been sent a defective replacement. So I ordered a third pod from Klipsch, and sure enough that didn't fix the problems either. So now I have two pods to return and am not any closer to getting it fixed -- none of the techs I've talked to have had any idea what the problem might be besides a bad pod.

Edit: I've done some more digging and it looks like I've got the same problem as described here -- same low volume symptoms and the exact same resistor on my board looks to be fried

Here's the dead resistor:

Edit 2: That looks be to be resistor R120, which is labelled on the schematic as 82-1/4W (82 ohms, 1/4 watts, 5% tolerance). I think I'll see if I can install a replacement.

[DEC]

Zortrium ... did you ever get your sub working again after replacing the fried resistor?

[DEC]

Edit 2: That looks be to be resistor R120, which is labelled on the schematic as 82-1/4W (82 ohms, 1/4 watts, 5% tolerance). I think I'll see if I can install a replacement.

Zortrium,

I called Klipsch today and they said they don't have any publically available schematics or electrical diagrams for the ProMedia 2.1 subwoofer (and they could not positvely identify the R120/J113 resistor for me). Just curious, but how did you get a schematic?

Beyond that, I can probably confirm the resistor value by way of the white body with gold/black/red/gray stripes.

I also assume you removed the larger board in question to remove the bad resistor and solder in the new one. How did that go and did you get your volume back from the sub?

Also, on another related thread: http://community.klipsch.com/forums/t/126402.aspx ("ProMedia 2.1 fried resistor - I think"), razzz42 suggests going with replacement 1-watt 82 ohm resistors for both R120/J113 as well as the adjacent R107/Q106 resistor (which he reportedly did with good results). What are your thoughts on this?

Thanks,

Don

[Zortrium]

Hi Don,

Schematics are available at http://www.thompdale.com/bash_amplifier/2-1/2-1_bash_amp.htm

The one you want is the power supply, which is the last schematic on that page. R120 and R107 are in the upper right quadrant, each labeled as 82-1/4W. I haven't actually gotten around to repairing mine yet -- I've got replacement resistors and the subwoofer innards sitting on my desk next to me, but I need to get around to borrowing a soldering iron. I'm hoping to avoid having to disassemble the boards to get to the resistor; I think it'll be possible (though a little awkward) based on the reasonably exposed positions of R120 and R107.

You should be able to replace them with higher wattage resistors (as long as they're at least 1/4W and exactly 82 ohms) without problem, though I don't know if replacing only one of them with a higher wattage resistor would cause problems. My replacements are just 1/4W; I didn't bother going higher because I'm pretty sure I know why my R120 blew out (my fault rather than equipment failure).

Zortrium

[DEC]

Thanks much Zortrium ... the schematics for the 2.1 are perfect!

In terms of doing the actual work, I think I will attempt to remove the larger board so I can have some additional elbow room.

And while I am no electronics expert, I believe you need to (or at least should) replace both R120 & R107 with the higher wattage 82 ohm resistors. Maybe just replacing one wouldn't cause an issue, but I don't want to be the one to find out that was a mistake (especially since razzz42 replaced both with 1-watt versions and had good results). In my case, I think I will just move up to 1/2-watt 82 ohm resistors.

Thanks again,

Don

[DEC]

Well, I unfortunately have bad news to report.

After I
desoldered and removed resistor R120 (which previously looked like it
was damaged), it turned out that a small amount of the over-sprayed
brown foam stuff that is slopped around in quite a few places on the
various internal boards in the sub was on the end of the resistor in
question, which made it look like it was damaged when it actually
wasn't. Anyway, I went ahead and replaced the two 1/4-watt 82-ohm
resistors R120 & R107 with 1-watt 82-ohm versions and nothing
changed (and I didn't need to take the power supply circuit board out to do the work). I still get no sound from the subwoofer unless I crank the
sub volume level control potentiometer to maximum, and then I just get
the same anemic low-level volume even with a heavy bass passage, so
there is obviously something still wrong with one or more components on
one of the circuit boards inside the sub unit. The trouble is, nothing
else looks burned, discolored, or obviously damaged, so I guess it
could be anything at this point.

I am going to have to think
about what's next. I would definitely like to get my 2.1 sub working
again, but I also don't want to spend an arm and a leg doing it. I am
also not willing to start buying replacement circuit boards from
Klipsch, as with my luck, whatever I started with wouldn't be the right
board and then I would just be out more money with no benefit. I may have stpeteshepherd from eBay (aka Klipsch forum member
"stpete cooling"), take a look at it, although he typically focuses
more on ProMedia 5.1 systems as compared to 2.1 systems.

Don

[Zortrium]

Hrm...your symptoms match mine exactly, but I'm 90% sure my R120 is blown (I know I cooked SOMETHING when I smelled electrical burning coming from my sub). I guess it's possible there's a separate underlying issue that we both have not related to R120, but it seems unlikely...anyhow, thanks for checking it out and keep us posted.

[Bill H.]

Did you check the Volume level on the Music player that you use ? (I use Real Player) to see if maybe it reset itself to a lower volume?

[DEC]

I don't know if you were addressing your question to Zortrium or me, but in my case, I use several music players and a number of other sound media sources and the source/player volume is definitely not the issue. If that was the problem, the right/left satellite volume would also be down or non-existent, and my 2.1 satellite speakers have plenty of volume. It's the subwoofer that has little or no volume independent of source or ProMedia 2.1 control pod main volume/sub volume settings.

[Derick]

Check c14